Waste water humidifier



May 2, 1944. H. B. HAlT WASTE WATER HUMIDIFIER Filed Sept. 3, 1943 2Sheets-Sheet 2 u \Wbilnilll .iiilllllllillllllllllllIlll\ INVENTOR.Howard B. Her/'7" BY Patented May 2, 1944 9 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICEWASTE WATER HUMIDIFIER.

Howard B. Halt, Philadelphia, Pa.

Application September 3, 1943, Serial No. 501,063

2 Claims.

My invention relates to humidifying air and relates particularly toutilizing a water cooler to humidify the air in a room wherein the watercooler is placed.

Water coolers of the type for cooling water contained in flve gallonbottles wherein refrigerating systems are operated by electricity arecommon and they employ an electric motor which drives a compressor aswell as a fan fgr cooling the refrigerant. In the prior art watercoolers of thewater bottle typethe waste water dropped into a containerthat was removably attached to the water cooler, and the waste-watercontainer had to be emptied when it became filled to prevent overflow,or it was cleaned each night as a routine'duty.

It is an object of my invention to provide a water-bottle cooler with adevice whereby the waste water need not be physically removed from itscontainer. 7

Another object of my invention is to provide a water cooler wherein themotor fan will evaporate the waste-water to humidify the air.

Another object of my invention is to provide in a water cooler of eitherthe bottle type or of the city pressure supply type an air humidifyingdevice.

Another object of my invention is to provide a positive preventer ofwater overflow from a waterbottle cooler.

Other objects of my invention are to provide an improved device of thecharacter described of simple and economical construction, thatpossesses a maximum amount of serviceability and of strength.

With the above and related objects in view, my invention consists in thedetails of construction and combination of parts, that will be hereinafter fully described and the description will be more readilyunderstood when it is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawingsin which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view partly broken away of a bottle type ofelectric water cooler embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary front elevational view of a series of wastewater trays adapted to be suspended from the rear of the water coolerand adjacent the motor fan.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on the lines 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 shows a modification of my invention as employed in a citypressure water supply cooler, partly drawn in broken away fashion toshow the interior details.

Referring now in detail to the drawings wherein my invention isillustrated, I show in Fig. 1 a water cooler of the bottle type whereina frame, generally designated as A, supports a bottle, generallydesignated as B, wherein water is held; a reservoir, generallydesignated as C, retains the water which emerges from bottle B, and thereservoir C is surrounded by coils, generally designated as D, which.retain the refrigerant to provide a heat exchange unit.

Within the frame A is an alcove, generally designated as E, which has afaucet, generally designated as F protruding therein. Within the alcoveE is a waste water drain generally designated as G, to which a wastepipe I!) is connected" The waste pipe It carries the waste water to aplurality of trays, generally designated as H, which are suspendedadjacent the lower end of the rear side of the'frame behind condensercoils, generally designated as J. An electric motor, generallydesignated as K, suitably supported within the cooler frame carries acompressor driving belt as well as fan blades or vanes l2, so that therotation of the vanes I2 blow or agitate the air adjacent thereto tocool the condenser coils J and to blow over the trays H. The airagitated over the trays H vaporizes the water therein so that the watervapor is carried away by the agitated air thus humidifying the air inthe room.

The trays H comprise a plurality of vertically arranged trays It, 18,2t, 22 and which re-.

oeive drain water from drain pipe l0 and the trays are spaced one fromthe other. Each of the trays is slightly less in width than the width ofthe frame A so that the trays cannot be seen from the front side. Thetrays are narrow in width in order that the cooler will not extendunnecessarily far from the wall, adjacent which the cooler is placed.

Each of the trays l6, I8, 20, 22 has an overflow pipe 23 therein inorder that the overflow of waste water will not travel over the sides ofthe tray upon the floor, so that damage or messiness of the floor isprevented.

The last or bottommost tray 24 is connected to one end of an air pipe 26and the other 'end 28 of the air pipe 26 opens into the uppermost end ofthe reservoir water retaining chamber 0, where no water but air fillsthe upper space. The purpose of the air pipe 26 is to permit air toenter the reservoir C in order to enable the air to displace the waterdrawn from the bottle-otherwise a vacuum exists. However, when thebottom tray 24 is filled with water the air pipe 26 is closed to theatmosphere and no water will drain from the water bottle because the airpressure within and outside of the water bottle is not equalized. Whenthe condition aforementioned occurs, to wit: no water can be drawnfromthe faucet F, it should be expedient to remove and drain pluralityof trays in order to prevent overflow of the water. However, undernormal conditions of operation the drain water will be evaporated longbefore it reaches the lower evaporator tray 24. Hence, it can be recoB-the bottle type water .cooler embodying my invention need not have thedrain water removed, 1 as the drain water is vaporized to humidity theair of the room-particularly during the winter months when air isexceptionally dry. It should be noted that a resilient ring 30 on whichthe bottle B rests completely isolates the water reservoirC from theatmosphere when the bottle B of water is inverted and laid thereon.

Referring now to another embodiment of my invention illustrated in Fig.4 I show a water cooler, generally designated as Al, of the electricrefrigeration type wherein the water is received from the city watersupply system. The water fed from the city pressure supply systemthrough pipe 32 enters a water reservoir Cl where the water is chilledby the cooling or refrigerating coils DI. The drain or waste waterpasses through a drain water pipe 34 which terminates in the top of oneof the humidifying trays 36. The drain water collects in each of thetrays 38, so that the fan blades or vanes attached to an electric motor,generally designated as KI, when rotating agitate or fan the air over acondenser coil generally designated as J I, and the trays" lnized thatunder normal conditions of operationthereby cooling the condenser coilsJ l and vaporizing the water in the trays 36. A drain pipe is suitablyconnected to the city waste water system because the amount of waterused in the fountain type of city pressure water cooler is too large tobe vaporized by the motor Kl. Hence, the air in the room will behumidified by the fan 38 vaporizing the waste water.

Although my invention has been described in considerable detail, suchdescription is intended as illustrative rather thanlimiting, since theinvention may be variously embodied, and the scope of the invention isto be determined as claimed.

. I claim as my invention:

1. In combination with a water-bottle water cooler, a humidiiying trayfor retaining waste water of the cooler, and means common to both thecooler and the humidifying tray whereby the waste water in the trayswill be vaporized; a water reservoir within said water cooler, and meansconnected to said reservoir and said humidifying trays whereby the flowof water from the reservoir will be controlled by the amount of water inthe humidifying trays.

2. In combination a water cooler having a built-in non-removable wastedrain line, a removable waste water air humidifier, means to attach saidhumidifier adjacent the rear portion of said water cooler, said watercooler having condenser coils and a fan to blow air over said coils, andsaid air humidifier being supplied by water from the waste water drain,said humidifier being located adjacent said condenser so that the sameagitated air passes over the humidifier and the condenser.

HOWARD B. HAIT.

